


Era 0: Black Diamond Days

by Digigal_transbian



Series: Translucent Pink [6]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Diamond Authority - Freeform, Gemsonas - Freeform, Gen, Homeworld (Steven Universe), Homeworld Gems - Freeform, Homeworld Hierarchy (Steven Universe), Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23760526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Digigal_transbian/pseuds/Digigal_transbian
Summary: Long, long ago, on the barren world of Diacrys, two gems took form.These two gems would be the beginnings of a grand empire, but all good things come with a cost. The empire splits under the opposing rules of the two original diamonds, a time neither would ever forget.My take on Black Diamond and a second, separate Diamond Authority, as well as the roles of the Diamonds as a whole.
Series: Translucent Pink [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718503
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	1. Remembrance of days long gone

On a barren planet, thousands of aeons ago, there were two gems.

A diamond of perfect quality, and a diamond of perfect toughness.

Two perfectly equal opposites.

Together, the two diamonds grew close as the only two of their kind. They laughed and joked like family.

But, over time, they grew lonely.

They learned how to infuse themselves into the soil, springing life from the world beneath them. Small pebbles formed from the stones and began to build a civilization of their own under the watchful eyes of their two creators. The pebbles provided endless entertainment for their two giant diamonds, sang praises in their names, wrote poetry of escapades the diamonds performed, they built statues in the image of their grand creators as their civilization became more complex and advanced.

Slowly but surely, the Homeworld of Diacrys took shape.

The two diamonds always ruled differently, but together. White Diamond was heavily involved with the direction the pebbles advanced, guiding them to becoming the perfect little species. Her brother, Black Diamond, let his pebbles do as they pleased, let them find and make their own passions 

One day, the diamond twins came to a roadblock. The pebbles were good at general things, but they hardly specialized in anything. The diamonds wanted a larger domain, but the pebbles were awfully inefficient at that matter.

Not long later, the first Bismuth gems were formed.

The Bismuths stood much larger than their pebble counterparts, but didn't look down on them in any way that wasn't literal. Together, the two gem types built larger and larger cities for the Diamonds.

The old ways were growing old, proving inefficient, so the Diamonds created a new type of gem to alleviate the issue.

The first Peridots were formed to lead the technological development of their species. Nephrites and Emeralds to pilot their ships, Rubies, Quartz, and Topazes to protect and staff them, Pearls to serve.

Over time, more and more gems came into being, their empire grew across their planet, draining its resources slowly. If they wanted to continue the growth they were having, they would need to expand their empire beyond the stars.

When the first resource crisis came to be, the two diamonds came to a disagreement one day. White Diamond wanted every gem to follow a set purpose based on their type, maximizing efficiency and growing the empire gloriously, while her brother wanted all gems to find their own purpose, to live lives they wanted to as the pebbles that came before them did.

She saw his ways as imperfect, inefficient. How would they spread their light to all the stars if the gems had total free will? If she couldn't guide them on the perfect path? Shs believed the Diacrysians didn't need imperfection like him, so she cast him and all his gems out.

The history of the original pebbles and gems is long forgotten, their cities all eventually destroyed and their kind all bubbled. Every gem from the Era 0 bubbles and locked away deep within White's Palace, down a hall long since untouched.

But White Diamond remembers it all.

She remembers when she made Yellow and Blue a few centuries after Black took his gems and left. Her empire first contacted the Xothans a millennia later. Blue tried her best and still failed to get them to stand down before Yellow took up the mantle and responded to their war in kind. She remembers every gem that was lost in the numerous conflicts between their two species, she keeps the memorial deep in her palace, adding to it personally when more gems are shattered.

She remembers when Pink formed. She remembers wanting so much better for her. Pink begged and begged for a colony of her own, but she wasn't ready. White wasn't about to let her run a colony until she was absolutely positive she wouldn't turn out like Black Diamond.

She didn't want to lose another Diamond.

She remembers how she felt when Pink faked her shattering. How it felt like her brother all over again. She locked herself in her palace from all the grief, all the pain, every old wound she thought was once healed burning in the open air.

And then Steven Universe entered the picture. Pink gave up her form for him, to become part human. She chose to cease to be to give something new a chance.

It was something Black Diamond would probably encourage. Was he involved, was he the reason Pink gave herself up to a human child?

No, she's had tabs on Black Diamond's movements ever since the argument, he's been busy with the outer galaxies, keeping his empire stable. He couldn't possibly have gotten into her space without her knowing.

Word on the ore vein was that Black had his own court of Diamonds to help with his empire's stability, as well as a gem cut specifically for recreation. How inefficient.

A few years passed and Steven stood in front of her, fighting for the freedom of gems everywhere, fighting for the gems she corrupted. Every moment he was in front of her reminded her of her one biggest failure.

She pulled her gem out of him, hoping that Pink would return and everything could go back to how it was, her staying in denial about anything to do with Black Diamond. Pink's gem cycled through her original form, her rose quartz disguise, then settled on becoming a Pink Steven.

In a last ditch effort to not deal with her feelings concerning Black Diamond leaving, she used her eye beams in an attempt to control Pink, reform her to how she should look, have her act the way she should, have her not remind White of that one failure.

And then Pink pulled out her shield, blocking every attempt to get her back under control. The Pink Steven and Human Steven fused, cementing that Pink really was gone forever.

The whole thing reminded her of the argument she had with her brother.

Her emotions got the best of her and her control was released on her puppets. Steven approached her with those eyes that looked so similar to his and comforted her, with words that sounded so much like him.

She denied it for well over thirty thousand years, but there was no denying it now. She missed Black Diamond, she needed her brother's influence to keep the empire running as it should. She pushed him away as a relic of the past, but he kept the empire stable. He brought a balance to their empire that could have kept the Diacrysians united, made them into the perfectly balanced species, as they should be.

She was shortsighted in those days.

Over the course of a few years, Homeworld changed. Steven can be thanked for that one. He ultimately removed the Diamonds from power, aside from the absolute essentials like Yellow maintaining the military, and gave them all a chance to breathe. Every gem was then made free to do whatever they wanted, to find their own purpose.

Just like he wanted.

Then Steven transformed into that monster, what a sight that was, and made her truly realize exactly how much damage she'd done. She had done so much damage, not just to him, but to all of her gems.

Two months later, that human friend of his accepted an experiment from Yellow to receive a gem artificially. A month after that, the Cluster was removed from the Earth's crust.

Another month after that, she finds herself standing in an old, dusty throne room, staring longingly at the two thrones, one white, one black.

And hanging above them, the first gems wait, bubbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my take on the origins of gemkind and Black Diamond, I figured it'd be different to make Black Diamond and his gems all male/masculine in contrast to White's gems who are all female/feminine.
> 
> Also want to explore why some of the Diamond's powers are what they are, because I've noticed a trend in the canon D Authority that might be an interesting thing.


	2. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White Diamond explores an abandoned hall of her palace, lost in her memories of days long passed.

It wasn't often White Diamond had a moment to herself these days.

She spent centuries managing an intergalactic empire, being supreme ruler of all gemkind, and the Diacrysians flourished under her rule.

Well, her Diacrysians. She's not had time to wonder about how the others are doing. The gem homeworld fractured not long after the issue with the Xothans escalated, and then Pink went and faked her shattering due to her fellow Diamond's poor treatment of her. After six thousand years of trying to keep Diacrys in one piece, well as much of one piece as was left, she hardly had any time to rest.

White Diamond has always appreciated those rare moments of silence when absolutely nothing is needed of her. In those rare moments, her mind is free to wander. In progressively rarer moments, she takes a walk down a hallway of her palace that she had all but abandoned.

She finds herself in the abandoned hallway, walls carved with murals depicting the true history of gem kind. Her fingers trace the mural of her long forgotten brother. In the past, she would never admit to it, but she regrets what happened that day. No argument should have been able to separate the original Diamonds as it did, but it happened. Even now, she still has a hard time saying the words.

Not even Yellow or Blue know about this mural. The gem who carved it has been long since bubbled away, as with all gems who would have known the true nature of the mural.

The mural depicts Black Diamond with his hands over Diacrys, while White holds the planet in her own underneath. Surrounding them in a diamond lattice pattern, depictions of the original planets and star systems they ruled. At their feet were the original gems, depicted in the act of building the empire that the Diamonds ruled. Even the smallest pebbles are present, lining the frame of the mural with their various jobs and creations.

It is a truly remarkable sight to behold, she thinks.

Further down the hall is a door depicting the original five pointed symbol of the Diamond Authority, cut in the shape of White's and Black's gems. On the top, pointed upwards, sits Black Diamonds insignia, while on the bottom, pointed down, sits White's. She places her hand gingerly on the control pad and the door opens just as quickly as it did all those aeons ago.

Inside rests the old throne room where two thrones have gone untouched for countless centuries. On the right sits her old throne, on the left sits her brother's. Slowly, she walks into the room, gazing at the walls longingly. She takes a seat in her old throne and places her hand on the command console, opening the windows to the room and letting some light into the room for the first time in ages.

The white bubbles above her glisten in the light for the first time in far too long. Her eyes linger on some of the pebbles, remembering their lives. She remembers the first Pebble to ever form, she remembers the Pebble that first sung praises of the Diamonds, she remembers them all. Their monuments, their books, their stories are all stored safely in bubbles on the other side of the room.

She stands as a gem out of her time amongst her own kin. Yellow and Blue don't understand her, partly because she never truly let them in, but also because they don't know the full history of their kind. To know White Diamond is to understand Era Zero, and they barely know anything about that lost era of history.

White was always the more introverted of the two, Black always had to be doing something with others. A faint smile graces her lips at the memory of Black Diamond trying to help the Bismuths and Pebbles build one of their first major buildings, the courtroom. He tried at his full size at first, and when that made work practically impossible he shapeshifted to be smaller, learning that the two of them could project their gems to be smaller.

Their gems are the size of any other gem after all, just projected to be larger like most fusions do. It is significantly more comfortable for them to remain their true size, however. All the gems loved Black Diamond, she thinks with a sad smile.

As she settles into her old throne, she casts her gaze upwards and looks over the countless bubbles floating peacefully against the ceiling. Ever so gently, she plucks one of the bubbles down and holds it in her fingers. Inside the bubble is the first Bismuth, the one who designed the original Diamond Palace.

It's been far too long, she decides.

It's time to give Yellow, Blue, and Steven a history lesson.

It's time they learned about Era Zero.


End file.
